Judging

1. Team registration
2. Complete Judging form
3. Team Wiki
4. Present a poster and a talk at the iGEM Jamboree
5. Document at least one new standard BioBrick Part or Device used in your project/central to your project and submit this part to the iGEM Registry (submissions must adhere to the iGEM Registry guidelines). A new application of and outstanding documentation (quantitative data showing the Part’s/ Device’s function) of a previously existing BioBrick part in the “Experience” section of that BioBrick’s Registry entry also counts.

1. Experimentally validate that at least one new BioBrick Part or Device of your own design and construction works as expected
2. Document the characterization of this part in the “Main Page” section of that Part’s/Device’s Registry entry.
3. Submit this new part to the iGEM Parts Registry (submissions must adhere to the iGEM Registry guidelines).
4. Your project may have implications for the environment, security, safety and ethics and/or ownership and sharing. Describe one or more ways in which these or other broader implications have been taken into consideration in the design and execution of your project.

1. Improve the function of an existing BioBrick Part or Device (created by another team or your own institution in a previous year), enter this information in the Registry (in the “Experience” section of that BioBrick’s Registry entry), create a new registry page for the improved part, and submit this part to the iGEM Parts Registry (submissions must adhere to the iGEM Registry guidelines).
   The growth of the Registry depends on having a broad base of reliable parts. This is why the improvement of an existing part is just as important as the creation and documentation of a new part. An "improvement" is anything that improves the functionality and ease-of-use of a part, so that it is more likely to be used by the community. For instance: strengthening the expression of a part by mutating the DNA sequence; modifying one or a few parts in construct (Device) so that it performs its intended job better; improving a cloning or expression vector that can be easily used by the entire community; and of course, troubleshooting and fixing a part reported to be non-functional. Data from an experimental comparison between the original and improved part/ device is strongly recommended.
2. Help any registered iGEM team from another school or institution by, for example, characterizing a part, debugging a construct, or modeling or simulating their system.
3. Your project may have implications for the environment, security, safety and ethics and/or ownership and sharing. Describe a novel approach that your team has used to help you and others consider these aspects of the design and outcomes of synthetic biology efforts. Please justify its novelty and how this approach might be adapted and scaled for others to use.

For the following special prizes, teams must nominate themselves using the online Judging Form.

1. Best Human Practices Advance: Will the world be a safe place if we make biology easy to engineer? How do the lessons of the past inform the discussion going forward? Think beyond just convincing people that “synthetic biology is good.” Find a new way to help human civilization consider, guide, and address the impacts of ongoing advances in biotechnology.
2. Best BioBrick Measurement Approach: There are a lot of exciting Parts in the Registry, but most of the Parts have never been characterized. Designing great measurement approaches for characterizing new parts or developing and implementing an efficient new method for characterizing thousands of parts are good examples.
3. Best Model: Mathematical models and computer simulations provide a great way to describe the functioning and operation of BioBrick Parts and Devices.
4. Best New Standard: Standards help to make sharing biological parts easier. For example, the BioBrick DNA assembly standard makes it easier to construct parts from pre-existing parts created by the entire BioBrick community. What other sorts of standards can you create? How about a standard system for measuring promoter activity, a standard method for reporting compatible/ incompatible parts, a standard to help describe and control post-translational modifications (such as phosphorylation), or chassis-specific standards (for instance, a system for describing and sharing transgenic yeast)?
   
Your New Standard should be clearly presented and easy to find in your Wiki.

The following prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the judges:

5. Best New BioBrick Part, Natural: Most genetically-encoded functions have not yet been converted to BioBrick parts. In fact, most genes in the natural environment have likely not ever been sequenced. Thus, there are *many* opportunities to find new, cool, and important genetically encoded functions, and refine and convert the DNA encoding these functions into BioBrick standard biological parts.
   Your best natural BioBrick Part(s) should be visible on your Wiki’s Data Page (see https://igem.org/Sample_Data_Page).
6. Best New BioBrick Device, Engineered: New BioBrick Devices can be made by combining existing BioBrick Parts. For example, Inverters, Amplifiers, Smell Generators, Protein Balloon Generators, Senders, Receivers, Actuators, and so on.
   Your best new BioBrick Device(s) should be visible on your Wiki’s Data Page.
7. Best Wiki: The team Wiki is the “face” of your iGEM project. The team Wikis serve as the main project information resource for future iGEM students and teams, as well as the rest of the world. This award honors the “model” Wiki page, which exemplifies what the following year’s Wikis should strive for.
8. Best Poster, Regional Level: Posters should be attractive, clear, and concisely present your team's work.
9. Best Presentation: Presentations should be clear, engaging, and communicate your project to a broad audience.

Software division:

10. Best Software Tool: Computers have been around for a long time. How come we don't have more, great software tools for helping everything engineering synthetic biological systems based on standard biological parts?
    See the Software page for details.
    Your New Software Tool should be clearly presented and easy to find in your Wiki.

Additional special prizes that may be awarded if the quality of work is sufficiently high:

11. Best Parts collection
12. Most improved Registry Part